Dimensional effects in photoelectron spectra of Ag deposits on GaAs(110) surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the dimensionality of Ag deposits on GaAs(110) surfaces affects their photoelectron spectra, revealing that two-dimensional deposits produce distinct spectral peaks linked to single electronic states.

Contribution

It demonstrates the importance of dimensionality in interpreting photoelectron spectra and provides a comparison between theoretical density of states and experimental spectra for Ag on GaAs(110).

Findings

Peak structures are only clearly associated with single electronic states in 2D deposits.

In 1D and 0D, density of states show peaks from bunches of states, not individual ones.

Spectral characteristics depend on band dispersion in the energy region.

Abstract

It is shown that the peak structure observed in angle-resolved photoelectron spectra of metallic deposits can only be unambiguously associated to single electronic states if the deposit has a two dimensional character (finite along one spatial direction). In one and zero dimensions the density of states shows peaks related to bunches of single electron states (the finer structure associated to the latter may not always be experimentally resolved). The characteristics of the peak structure strongly depend on the band dispersion in the energy region where they appear. Results for the density of states and photoemission yield for Ag crystallites on GaAs(110) are presented and compared with experimental photoelectron spectra.